Luring Tourists Back to Greece

The New York Times

By LIZ ALDERMAN

Published: May 22, 2013

The sun was blazing above the Acropolis, draping the ivory pillars of the Parthenon in a golden sheen. The red-tiled roof of the ancient Agora museum glimmered in the heat, and a breeze ruffled the boughs of olive trees. On the rough cobbles of Plaka, a cafe-lined tourist area, crowds of camera-toting visitors paused to soak it all in.

Kostas, a waiter at the Diodos taverna, which offers a splendid view of the scene, smiled. A year ago, amid a political and economic crisis that fueled protests in central Athens and pushed Greece toward the brink of exiting the euro zone, the surrounding streets were hauntingly empty. But on a recent Saturday afternoon, Kostas, who only gave his first name, was scrambling to find an empty outdoor table to accommodate patrons.

“Greece is back!” he exclaimed.

If last summer was a dark spot for tourism in this crisis-hit country, travelers are returning in greater numbers this year, lured by discounts of up to 20 percent on hotels in major cities and on Greece’s stunning islands, as well as assurances — at least for now — that Greece won’t be ditching the euro and returning to the drachma after all.

“The Greek government is stable, and we are no longer under speculation that Greece will leave the euro,” said Xenophon Petropoulos, a spokesman for the Association of Greek Tourism Enterprises. “The value-to-price ratio is excellent at the moment, and that’s helping to bring tourism back.”

With reports of anti-austerity protests last year and early this year fresh in people’s minds, however, the first question being asked by travelers is whether it is safe to visit Greece. The short answer is yes.

“You may have activity in Syntagma Square,” Mr. Petropoulos said. “But 500 meters away, people are drinking beer in Plaka.”

Indeed, the number of demonstrations has dropped and, as Mr. Petropoulos noted, they are largely confined to Syntagma Square. Recently, some Americans asked this reporter about the far-right Golden Dawn group, which has used violence against ethnic immigrants. But locals are pushing back with protests and occasionally direct confrontation, resulting in a mild decrease in the group’s vigilantism. There have been no reports of violence toward tourists.

These days, the main nuisance for travelers is likely to be transportation strikes to protest austerity measures. They have sharply diminished but still pop up sporadically on the Athens metro, among air traffic controllers and on ferry boats to the islands. Visitors are advised to check the Living in Greece Web site, livingingreece.gr/strikes, for updates and to consult the Web sites of their national Athens-based embassies for strike, safety and other information before traveling.

None of those concerns stopped Jim Wiseley, a teacher at Gobles High School in Gobles, Mich., from bringing his class of around 30 students on a Classical tour of Athens. One sunny afternoon in April, he sat with his mother and some students at the foot of the sacred rock on which the Acropolis is perched, enjoying a meal he had picked up at a taverna: feta and olives, tomatoes, grilled meats and freshly made tzatziki.

Mr. Wiseley said the American tour company he used was worried about people canceling trips to Greece this year. As a precaution, the group’s hotel reservation was moved from the center of Athens to a location about half an hour away. “But that wasn’t really necessary,” he said. “There have been no safety issues here.”

Geoff Baylee, 17, a student from Gobles, gazed at the Parthenon with awe. “It’s breathtakingly surreal, especially when you know that the ancient Greeks built it in 15 years,” he said. Mr. Wiseley’s mother, Joan, 73, said she had snapped up bargains on gold jewelry and accessories. With numerous stores shuttered in central Athens amid the crisis, some shops were giving school groups special discounts of up to 60 percent.

Greece sorely needs the business. The economy has shrunk by more than 20 percent in the last five years, and unemployment recently topped 27 percent. The government is still laboring to repay international loans, and many average Greeks continue to feel the effects of an austerity program that has cut incomes and fanned social hardship.

Despite the travails, Greeks remain welcoming. “We are eager to see visitors enjoy the splendors of Greece,” Mr. Petropoulous said. The country hopes to draw in more than 17 million tourists this year, after international visits slumped by 5.5 percent last year to 15.5 million, Alexandros Vassilikos, the head of the Athens-Attica Hotels Association, said.

Hotel prices in Athens and its suburbs have dropped an average of 45 percent in the last three years, as have room rates on numerous islands, he added. Hotels near Classical sites just a few hours’ drive from Athens have also cut their prices, including Delphi and the well-preserved ancient theater at Epidavros, where some of the first Greek tragedies were performed.

But deals are now luring travelers from Northern Europe, the Middle East and especially China, where the Greek government has engaged in a special outreach to lure newly affluent tourists. Already, reservations for hotels and cruises through July are up about 20 percent over last year. Tourism from the United States is also rebounding. Through the first few months of 2013, flights originating in the United States were up double digits from a year ago, aided by a drop in ticket prices and a strengthening dollar, Jeremy Boore, an analyst at Expedia.com, said. Much of the renewed interest was in Greece’s second-largest city, Salonika, called Thessaloniki by the Greeks.

Meanwhile, there has been strong growth in bookings for hotels in the Cycladic islands, especially Santorini and Mykonos.

Last year, visitors, fearful of what would happen to reservation deposits if Greece reverted to the drachma, canceled their bookings or put them off. That was especially the case at upscale hotels on islands like Mykonos. This year, Mykonos hotel bookings made online are up 20 to 30 percent, with offers like 10 percent discounts for early reservations and 14-day stays for the price of 12, said George Zachos, a manager at Kyklomar Tours in Mykonos. “We just hope that the politicians will let us alone this year to work without any bad surprises,” he said.

On a recent weekday, tourists jammed onto a Blue Star Ferries boat, which left from the Port of Piraeus outside Athens and wound its way toward Santorini. Despite three decks connected by escalator and elevators, the boat was filled to capacity to accommodate travelers who had been stranded in Athens the day before because of a ferry strike.

Although it is famed for its high lava cliffs and whitewashed houses, even Santorini is working to burnish its image and recapture visitors.

The island’s tourism board has proclaimed this year the Year of Gastronomy dedicated to “the fruits of the dry volcanic land.” Food festivals will be held throughout the summer, linking tavernas and high-end restaurants with wineries and romantic hotels.

At the Angel Cave Houses, one of the many lodgings overlooking Santorini’s caldera, rooms were almost completely booked from May to July, said Athanasia Chalari, a manager. She was offering up to 20 percent discounts for nonrefundable bookings, after offering 50 percent discounts last year.

“Little by little things are coming back,” she said.